Explore the Mass Humanities funded projects awarded from 2000 to the present. Browse by grant type, city, region or keyword. Subscribe and receive news when grants are awarded. Interact with a state map of grants awarded!
Hilltowns History Conference and Fair - Hooked on History
A local history day at Mohawk Trail Regional High School uniting teachers, students, and the public with local history organizations.
Shelburne Falls, MA, Franklin County (CT Valley)
project director: Sheila Damkoehler
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
5th Annual Reading Frederick Douglass at High Rock Tower Park
Support for a public reading of Frederick Douglass' famous Fourth of July oratory as part of the Mass Humanities Reading Frederick Douglass program.
Lynn, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Wendy Joseph
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $500
Exploring Effective Interpretation of Northern Slavery and its Legacies
A one-day symposium familiarizing regional historic and cultural resource organizations with the history and legacy of slavery in the north and helping them develop programming and materials.
Salem, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Beth Beringer
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $4,630
Lowell's Irish Problem: The Town Vote to Establish a School for the Irish
Production of a 3-minute film that is to provide background for Tsongas Center interactive civic activity that focuses on immigration.
Lowell, MA, Middlesex County (Northeast)
project director: Kristin Gallas
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
1854...a folk opera
Writing of the libretto of a "folk opera" about the mid-nineteenth-century African American experience on Martha's Vineyard.
Oak Bluffs, MA, Dukes County (Cape & Islands)
project director: Jack Schimmelman
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
earth.sky mobile exhibition
Creation of two short films by Roberto Mighty featuring historical figures, their monuments, and the cemetery landscape, to be included in a series of twenty shorts that will be the basis of a walking tour mobile app.
Cambridge, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: Bree Harvey
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
Historic Property Research and Plaque Project
Research and fabrication of six historical plaques, to be awarded to property owners for their efforts in maintaining the historical integrity and condition of their property.
Fall River, MA, Bristol County (Southeast)
project director: Jim Soule
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $2,500
DAWNLAND short films
Short-film social media efforts to support the creation and distribution of the full-length documentary film DAWNLAND, about the Maine Wabanaki-State Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
Walpole, MA, Norfolk County (Southeast)
project director: Adam Mazo
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $10,000
Techung: Bone of the Heart documentary film
Preproduction work on a documentary covering the role of music in the maintaining of cultural identity among Tibetan exiles.
(project website)
Watertown, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: Marilyn D. Pennell
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $9,310
Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World
Production of a play by Yussef El Guindi, post-performance talks with the playwright, and a free, public symposium on the role of the arts in challenging stereotypes.
South Hadley, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: J. Lucinda Kidder
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $2,900
The Portuguese Kitchen
Creation of a five-to-twelve minute pilot video about Portuguese cuisine and its history hosted by Manny Lopes of "Cooking with Dad TV."
Springfield, MA, Hampden County (CT Valley)
project director: Harold Wolfe
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
Nuestras Abuelas - Our Grandmothers
A bilingual exhibit on Latino heritage created in consultation with Holyoke residents and focused on the relationships of the subjects with their grandmothers.
Holyoke, MA, Hampden County (CT Valley)
project director: Penni Martorell
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $6,200
Harry H. Dow Legal Case Files
Inventory, translation, and assessment of client files from the Harry H. Dow papers archived at the Suffolk Law School Library.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Susan Chinsen
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $1,500
Domestic Workers and Employers: Exploring the Realities of Work, Family, Care and Community
A multimedia oral history project with workers and employers about the MA Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, including two public events.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Moniqe Nguyen
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $10,000
2015 Speaker Series
Support for the 80th season of the speaker series, consisting of five free public lectures.
Springfield, MA, Hampden County (CT Valley)
project director: Michelle Morash
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
VIETNAM: Not the War - The Post War
Creation of a trailer, script, and fundraising plan for a one-hour documentary film by Bestor Cram about the post-war realities in Vietnam and American veterans' ongoing involvement there.
Wellesley, MA, Norfolk County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: C. David Thomas
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $10,000
Boston Asian American Film Festival: Home in America
A four-day themed film festival on intergenerational immigrant experiences.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Susan Chinsen
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
Driving to the American Dream: Citizenship at the Wheel
A reading, discussion, and performance program for Boston cab drivers based on Dmitry Samarov's Where To?
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Barbara Lewis
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $9,848
Chair City Oral History Series and Community Art Center
A community art and discussion project that will engage former chair manufacturing workers in producing 400 copies of eleven oral histories recorded in 2009, after the closing of the city's last chair manufacturer.
Gardner, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Tracie Pouliot
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $4,000
Stem to Stern: Building CONSTITUTION
A short film featuring an animation of the 1790s building of the USS Constitution, to be shown while Old Ironsides is in dry dock and can be seen in her entirety.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Robert Kiihne
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center Website
Development of an educational website about the history of the commercial fishing industry in New Bedford, providing online access to oral histories and other materials gathered by the Working Waterfront Festival.
(project website)
New Bedford, MA, Bristol County (Southeast)
project director: Laura Orleans
awarded on: 2015-06-16
amount: $5,000
Frederick Douglass Communal Reading
Support for a public reading of Frederick Douglass' famous Fourth of July oratory as part of the Mass Humanities Reading Frederick Douglass program.
Worcester, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Cedric Arno
awarded on: 2015-06-03
amount: $500
Many Languages, One Collective Voice: We Read Frederick Douglass as One Community
Support for a public reading of Frederick Douglass' famous Fourth of July oratory as part of the Mass Humanities Reading Frederick Douglass program.
Brockton, MA, Plymouth County (Southeast)
project director: Lynn Smith
awarded on: 2015-05-19
amount: $500
A Most Commodius Store: N.H. Skinner and Company
Support for an exhibit to focus on the Skinner department store in downtown Taunton at the turn of the twentieth century as part of the Society's revitalized community engagement efforts.
Taunton, MA, Bristol County (Southeast)
project director: Katie MacDonald
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $5,000
Voices from Beyond the Dark: Sharing Historical Understanding Through Performance
11th graders' dramatic reading of the voices of selected human rights leaders in a theatrical performance of "Voices From Beyond the Dark" by Ariel Dorfman.
Greenfield, MA, Franklin County (CT Valley)
project director: Susan Durkee
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $2,500
Immigration: Proud Past, Troubled Present
A series of summer lectures offered by scholars, legal experts, and city officials, with contributions from recent immigrants to the Commonwealth on the history of immigration in the United States.
Charlemont, MA, Franklin County (CT Valley)
project director: Susan S. Purdy
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $5,000
Making History on the Common
Support for the annual history day on Boston Common, in which more than 1,000 fifth grade students participate.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Elizabeth Vizza
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $8,000
South County Stories
A gathering of local oral histories from members of multi-generational working families in the Berkshire County area and the subsequent creation and performance of four short plays based on their stories.
Great Barrington, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Beryl Jolly
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $10,000
Pirates, Shipwrecks and Ghosts of Boston Harbor
Training of the summer program staff to engage new audiences in humanities storytelling about Boston Harbor and its historical denizens.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Bruce Berman
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $10,000
"Stride Toward Freedom" Together: Connecting Brockton's Diversity by Exploring Our Common Ground
A community conversation on historic approaches to social contract negotiation and achieving citizen rights and freedoms, and signage marking approaches to the subject by notable historical figures.
Brockton, MA, Plymouth County (Southeast)
project director: Lynn Smith
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $10,000
Reel Talk Film Series
A three-part moderated film-and-discussion program with underserved Lawrence youth.
Lawrence, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Jared Ravreby
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $4,000
Provincetown Theater, Then and Now - Centennial Humanities Program
Multi-lingual playbill essays and study for local high schools and community college classes illuminating the relationship between the Provincetown Playhouse's famous founders and the Portuguese fishing community on the theater's 100th anniversary.
Provincetown, MA, Barnstable County (Cape & Islands)
project director: Margaret Van Sant
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $5,000
Civic Awareness and Opportunities for Young Males of Color to Refine 21st Century Skills
A program engaging 25 young black men from grades three through five in nominating the home of local hero Suzanne Revaleon Green for inclusion on the African American Heritage Trail in Cambridge.
Cambridge, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: Robin Harris
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $10,000
Project eLEVate
Support for a summer youth program as part of the Biannual Lift Ev'ry Voice Festival, focused on African-American identity in the Berkshires as well as the history and question of civil rights.
Williamstown, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Don Q. Kelley
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $10,000
Touching Home in China: in search of missing girlhoods
Support for a social media campaign to launch a multimedia electronic book depicting the history of China's One-Child Policy and the experiences of two adopted Chinese-American girls who visited their place of birth.
Melrose, MA, Middlesex County (Northeast)
project director: Melissa Ludtke
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $10,000
Digging Northampton's History - A Community Archaeology Project
An archaeological dig at the 1719 Parsons House, to which area third and fourth grade students and the public will be invited.
Northampton, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Linda Ziegenbein
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $5,000
Sharing Our Stories: Sharing Our Lives
Memoir writing workshops for 75 adult basic education students in five western Massachusetts classrooms.
Greenfield, MA, Franklin County (CT Valley)
project director: Judith Roberts
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $9,750
Mill Girls of Lowell Photovoice Project
Support for programs for girls 10 and older learning about the famous Lowell Mill Girls through history lessons, site visits, and walking-and-photography tours.
Lowell, MA, Middlesex County (Northeast)
project director: Jennifer Demers
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $5,000
Farm Values: Civic Agriculture at the Crossroads
Support for the development of an educational and informational program focusing on the economic and civic history of local agriculture by telling the stories of 6 farms in 6 towns in the region served by the Trust.
Athol, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Jamie Pottern
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $10,000
Massachusetts Native Peoples and the Social Contract: A Reassessment for Our Times
A convention of Native groups in Boston, Worcester, Cape Cod Islands, South Coast, and Amherst in roundtable discussions envisioning a new social contract between the Commonwealth and its Native peoples.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Cedric Woods
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $10,000